WR DeAndre Hopkins says Texans not averse to being behind late in games

news
3 months ago
USA TODAY — Mark Lane

The Houston Texans blew a 13-point lead over the New York Jets Saturday afternoon at MetLife Stadium. Eventually, the Jets battled back and took a 22-19 lead over the Texans with 5:00 remaining in the game.

Instead of getting discouraged that they had blown a lead to a 4-9 team that was starting a rookie quarterback in Sam Darnold, receiver DeAndre Hopkins says the team has possessed a strong mentality throughout the season. Therefore, they weren’t panicking.

“We’ve been in those situations before, so we know how to handle it,” said Hopkins, who caught 10 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns. “Not get too down and not get too up. We just play our game. The guys in our locker room know that we can win. We’ve been down before and no one has panicked. Being down by three or four points, we brush that off. We just want to go score.”

Score they did. On the game-winning drive, quarterback Deshaun Watson engineered a 75-yard touchdown drive that saw him complete six passes on seven attempts for 70 of those yards. To cap off the drive where the second-year signal caller demonstrated poise and coolness in the pocket, Watson connected with Hopkins for a 14-yard touchdown to give Houston a 26-22 lead.

“It doesn’t surprise me that he stayed composed under those situations,” Hopkins said. “He’s done it before in big games in his career, as well as in college.”

The comeback win positions the Texans to where an Indianapolis Colts loss to the Dallas Cowboys and a Tennessee Titans loss to the New York Giants delivers them an AFC South title, their first since 2016.